Songlines, an influential UK-based world music magazine, chose the Freemuse CD ‘Listen to the banned’ as Top of the World in their August 2010 issue.

“You need to hear this record – as much for the quality of the music as for what it represents,” recommended the reviewer for the British music magazine. In each issue of Songlines, selecting from hundreds of new releases, the editor chooses 10 favourite albums, and a track from each album appears on the magazine’s CD covermount. For the August 2010 issue of Songlines, the editor chose ‘Listen to the banned’ as Top of the World.

‘Listen to the banned’ features artists who have suffered censorship and persecution including great international artists such as Marcel Khalife and Tiken Jah Fakoly, and the imprisoned singer Lapiro de Mbanga from Cameroon.

The CD was published by Norway’s most successful music label, Grappa Records, on 3 March 2010, and then in the United Kingdom on 8 August 2010 with The New Powerhouse as distributor.

In USA, the CD is distributed by Valley Entertainment, a company that previously released CDs by Freemuse Award winner Mahsa Vahdat. ‘Listen to the banned’ was released in the US on 25 August 2010.

Very positive reviewsThe CD was co-produced by artist Deeyah and Freemuse and has been very well received by European Broadcasters. Special radio programmes were presented in Switzerland, Czech Republic, Norway, Spain, Germany, Holland, Sweden and Denmark, and half a year after its initial release ‘Listen to the banned’ was still a favourite amongst European world music DJs and highlighted month after month on the Top 20 of the World Music Charts Europe.

Since its release ‘Listen to the banned’ has also been listed as ‘CD of the week’ in the popular British newspaper London Evening Standard as well as on the online magazine mixedworldmusic.com in Holland.

The CD launches have been followed up by the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Radio interviewInterviewed by Jungeltelegrafen, the popular world music programme of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) in Norway, reggae artist Tiken Jah Fakoly strongly supported his imprisoned colleague Lapiro de Mbanga:

“Lapiro did what artists must do in our societies, where people cannot speak freely. He fights for democracy and they should release him,” Tiken Jah Fakoly said. He added that he found ‘Listen to the banned’ an excellent idea:

“Normally people get trophies for selling most records, but this CD highlights artists, who fight for justice and that’s a good idea,” said the Freemuse Award 2008 winner.

Musicians inprisoned, tortured, exiledLapiro de Mbanga is not the only artist featured on the CD, who has experienced imprisonment. So has the Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunc and the late Uighur singer, Kurash Sultan, who was imprisoned and tortured by Chinese authorities and after his escape found a new home in Sweden and a very fruitful musical collaboration with Ale Möller.

Several of the artists featured on the CD have collaborated with Freemuse for many years, and their stories are told on freemuse.org. They include Marcel Khalife, who spent time in a court room in Beirut charged with blasphemy, Chiwoniso, who was harassed by police in Zimbabwe and Mahsa Vahdat, the Iranian singer, who has performed at Music Freedom Day and at Freemuse related festivals several times.

‘Listen to the banned’ includes a booklet portraying some of the world’s most renowned artists facing censorship. Their stories are often painful, but they are also the stories of remarkable artists, who will not give in. Artists who believe they can make a difference.

“From Israel to Iran, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, musicians have been at best banned, at worst imprisoned or even murdered, for the music they produce.Perhaps because this CD has been compiled by Deehah, who is herself a composer as well as being a human-rights activist, the quality control is pleasingly high. So even if it wasn’t for the importance of the context, this collection of austere, haunting ballads and exuberant dance music would be a compelling and moving listen.”